The trial of a hit-and-run case involving Bollywood star Salman Khan was today deferred till December 20 by a court here as the magistrate did not preside over it.

The actor too was not in the court as he has been exempted from making personal appearances.

At the last hearing, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D A Joshi had taken a serious view of the prosecution taking a lot of time to examine witnesses and had set a timeframe for the trial, saying the court would hear the case every Wednesday.

However, Joshi did not come to the court today and the matter was adjourned to December 20.

According to the chargesheet, there are a total of 64 witnesses and the prosecution has examined only five of them in a span of three years between October 2003 and October this year.

According to Salman's lawyer Dipesh Mehta, 10 witnesses have so far been dropped by the prosecution.

The next witnesses to depose would be the four persons who were injured when the actor allegedly rammed his car into a bakery in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002, killing one person and wounding four others.